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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
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I think it is helpful to attend every conference - whether you go to one or a dozen each year, with the attitude of a student.
Listening to each of the speakers with the anticipation of learning something new each time you enter the room has always worked for me (unfortunately the older I get, the more I need to be reminded of what I'm supposed to know because I'm forgetting a lot of it). lol
I attend a lot of sessions because it helps me speak with more confidence and ensure that whatever voice I have resonates positvely or contrasts constructively.
At Kennedy this week for example I sat in a panel session where Shannon Seery Gude offered the observation that "no company careers site is completely accessible via mobile phone...and needs to be." I loved it. It was a "Duh...of course...lightbulb" moment for me and immediately I will be incorporated the thought in my own recommendations. It will also get added to our 2009 study of features in our review of Fortune 500 websites...to try to find/see them via mobile.
I note whether speakers attend other sessions and I'll add value to what they say as more relevant... since they are still learning too. Two Steves - Bonomo and Fogarty from Adidas did a fabulous keynote talk on employment branding challenges...and I saw them everywhere engaging others on the same subject.
Between sessions I often sit at tables with folks I don't know...on purpose to learn from them what keeps them up at night and compare in my mind whether it is the same input as all the people I do know.
I visit every booth. Most often I just wish them to "have a good show". It is useful to hear their perspective and I quickly note whether the vendors get it, attend sessions, participate in the community...or not.
This week I had a discussion with a vendor over whether it is better for the vendors (or a vendor) to drive the vision of staffing's future state...since they have the financial stake, extensive experience, resources and broader reach or, whether there is a way to empower enough staffing leaders to drive not only the vision they have for their firm but to share it with others. I'm still in the camp that if we aren't actually doing it, we need to educate others to make better choices and implement them rather than train them to do it the way we think they should. The difference is subtle but, in my mind a critical difference between a profession and an industry. Staffing is both but the staffing professional needs to know whether she is mapping a process that will make her firm competitive or adapting to a vendors map that maximizes their profit- IMHO. Beware the hype of end-to-end solutions.
Occassionally I'm pleasantly surprised that a vendor's new feature adds value or helps to make sense of our incredibly overloaded field and which I can share with colleagues when appropriate.
Sometimes I ecen find useful products outside of the booth arena.
While surfing the web during an opening session on Monday (isn't it great that you can multi-task on your computer with free wifi in the middle of conference sessions?). Anyway I was sitting next to Kevin Wheeler and he was showing me a learning trends site where a "mind-mapping" tool was being used to create a visual taxonomy of hundreds of resources in real-time with dozens of participants. It is hard to describe a picture but this was exactly what we saw being made and, as a means to brainstorm collaboratively over the web, it was fabulous!
Finally, I get to engage friends over many years and consider ways to give back.
While at Kennedy this week, many of us took note about the 50,000 layoff hit at CitiGroup (I have some friends and family I now need to check in on) and I thought "just how many recruiters have been laid off in the last few weeks? Chris Murdock at Yahoo! prompted another thought when he described how staffing colleagues remaining at Yahoo were trying to build support for thos laid off.
So, a final thought: What could we do, more than we are now - as individuals, to assist those folks in our community, recruiters in transition? Is there a real clearinghouse of leads? Is there a means to ensure access via referral? Are there alternatives that can be pursued -even temporarily? Does it matter?
The next few months offer a great opportunity for writing. Thanks to all the folks running conferences where I've had a chance to participate this year HR Technology/HR Executive, ERE, HR-XML, Kennedy, SHRM and more. Thanks especially to all the practitioners, the dozens of staffing leaders who have participted on my panels- this week: im Rutledge (Dell), Chis Murdock (Yahoo), Genn Gutmacher (Jobmachine/Arbita) and Russ Moon (Wachovia)
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
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In 100 years, what will be remembered about the early years of the 21st century...globally. Economic meltdown? First African American president? Wars? DNA code breaking? The last game played in Yankee stadium?
Historians of the future might very well note instead the successful and historic spacewalk by Chinese Astronauts (buried in most newspapers and given no more than a few seconds on TV news) in their quest to put their country on the moon by 2012.
No matter that the feat comes forty years after the US first put a man on the moon. We may be just beginning to realize how game changing this 2008 Chinese event is.
By 2012, will we be wondering how we could have missed it?
Which country do you think will attract the best and brightest engineers from around the globe?
China's aspirations aside, US firms and staffing leaders too often view the war for talent from inside our gilded cage. It is hard to envision [and 20 years ago it would have been laughable] but it is very possible that our best and brightest talent will have to emigrate to find opportunity in the not so distant future unless we take a closer look at our own aspirations as a society and commit to longer term objectives.
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Friday, November 14, 2008
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A recent Workforce Online article caught my attention…and one of the comments did more than that.
The article was making the point that in this economic downturn, disappointed finalists may be more aggressive and push back. Personally, I hope so but seriously doubt it beyond a few minor exceptions.
Anyway what really stuck in my craw was one of the lawyers quoted for the article who said
"… you’re not going to call the 350 unsuccessful candidates for lower-level store positions," he says. "At a higher level, you are going to call unsuccessful candidates, and the best thing you can tell them is that another candidate more closely fit the position. Leave it at that."
Despite the fact that there are many ways to reach 350 people without calling all of them, my answer to that lawyer in particular and to lawyers with similar “legal” advice in general is
“Thank you, I appreciate your advice on protecting our butts but we are a firm attempting to move forward in an increasingly transparent world.
We know that if we can successfully create a great experience for every candidate regardless of whether they win the job then we will differentiate ourselves in the industry and gain market share.
You are fired.
We’ll be looking for a lawyer that helps us develop the means to offer quality feedback at multiple levels that can be vigorously defended. Not because its the right thing but because it will drive performance and fill our pipelines.
Do you have any recommendations since this is obviously not your competence”?
Fortunately, the Workforce email als offered a contrasting link, a Fistful of Talent blog by Jennifer McClure who works in a Cincinnati-based recruitment and coaching firm. Her blog’s title Providing Feedback to Rejected Candidates - Will You Please Suck It Up?, said it all.
I agree totally with Jennifer’s comments and would go even further suggesting that in mapping a 21st century recruiting processes, a company aspiring to provide a world-class candidate experience is not credible unless for every recruiter and every job:
- A promise [declared on the website and kept]to every candidate when applying that the firm will a)acknowledge receipt of the application; b) provide all who apply [candidates] with the means to determine their status; c) acknowledge to all who apply [candidates] as having [self-reported] that they meet basic qualifications…or not…or that they haven’t been “considered” and why; and, d) to define that an opening will not “close” unless all candidates have been informed.
- A promise [declared on the website and kept]that all candidates considered as competitive [finalists] receive feedback – a clear, disciplined and recorded script that focuses on skills, knowledge and experience that the finalist might consider seeking in order to compete more effectively for a similar position in the future.
Companies that excel in this arena will 1) differentiate themselves as industry leaders; 2) cause engagement scores in their firm to rise; and, 3) measurably contribute to driving up their firm’s performance.
IMHO - Today, most firms claiming their candidate experiences are positive are totally in denial. Fewer than ¼ even measure the satisfaction of finalists using [irrelevant] Likert style measures. No one is truly measuring the damage they are doing to the Candidates [all those who apply] themselves primarily because the blinders are 100 years old despite the availability of technology based solutions.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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If you had a bucket of money to invest in support of Workforce Readiness programs- millions of dollars and an army of 250,000 volunteers where would you start?
Would you lobby to raise graduation standards from high school state by state (e.g. require 4 years of math and english of ALL students) in order to improve the quality of a future workforce?
Would you invest in increasing the graduation rates among "at risk" teenage students to reduce the drop out rate.
Would you build partnerships with federal, state and community governments to support and expand their existing programs?
Would you consider investing further down the workforce supply chain by trying to re-engage nurses and other health care workers who have left their profession to reduce the talent gap. Similarly is there a value in retraining female/male scientists and engineers if they take time out to raise children, change professions or simply drop out and eventually consider returning but need assistance to get ready?
Or, would you invest in the furthest end of the chain- helping boomers with critical skills reinvent and revise their skills and experience in more flexible roles to mentor, train, develop and support a new generation? ("There are as many NASA engineers over 65 years of age as under").
What are the implications for the US as a global competitor if this scenario is accurate:
For every 100,000 students entering the 9th grade today only 68,000 will graduate from High School in 4 years.
For each group of 68,000 HS graduates only 40,000 will enter college.
For each group of 40,000 entering college students only 18,000 will graduate (in 6 years)
For each group of 18,000 graduates, there are no more than 300 who have engineering degrees.
Within each group of 300 engineers about 50 are degreed Mechanical Engineers.
For every 50 Mechanical Engineers, 6 are women. (2 of these are foreign born nationals who won't get a J1, H1B or any other visa and will leave the US. 3 more will get a job here but leave Engineering within 5 years. 2 of these will want to eventually return but won't be hired because they have become obsolete and have no resources to re-engage.)
If this above were true then within 15 years only 1 mechanical engineer will remain working in the US seeking a fruitful career in her chosen profession as a specialist and/or technical leader...from each starting pool of 100,000 (or maybe 50,000 if you are just counting women) entering the 9th grade today.
Complicating this discussion is whether the concern of employers about workforce readiness is national or global. Do they really care about increasing the readiness of critical skills, basic skills or any skills withing the boundaries of the US...or do they assume the challenge is to find the most cost effective human assets regardless of geography? Is it less expensive to invest in another country than the US to produce the same product?
What price is paid ( and to what effect) if we develop a workforce ready to support critical skills that are no longer developed in sufficient supply to be supported?
Earlier this week, SHRM staff hosted 150 consultants, academics, and practitioners with a broad range of expertise in technology, staffing, government, non-profit, HR, compensation, etc. to delve into the issues of workforce readiness.
The wide-ranging, conversations over 2 days were well designed- an open forum in small groups and large. The consensus was that there is an opportunity for the HR profession in general and SHRM in particular to fund and lead workforce readiness initiatives that make a difference to employers and the workforce. At the end, we left having detailed prioities and recommendations that will be further refined in coming weeks and, I fully expect, acted on.
Have you looked at your company's workforce supply-chain lately? Is your firm commited to finding the right person at the right time w/o ever a thought to the pipeline that got that quality candidate to your door? Is workforce planning an empty exercise or a functional and analytical process that leads to improved decisions and long term investment in long term intiatives that add to the pipeline for everyone?
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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I'm here at ERE Expo listening to the opening speaker and monitoring the live video feed on ERE's home page. Simultaneously I'm online with free wireless in a huge ballroom seating 500+ and able to blog about the experience in real-time.
No other conference innovates as much as ERE. This isn't the first conference to do a live feed but, to openly and freely combine the means to distribute content to an entire ERE community....this breaks ground and Kudos to David and his team for making much of the conference available to those not able to get down here.
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008
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Charles Handler of Rocket-hire, one of my very favorite PhDs in the staffing space (primarily because he lives in N'awlins and his wife is a chef), wrote today in his monthly newsletter 7 thoughts on assessing vendors about their assessment products.
The last suggestion really resonates with me and is repeated below as a caveat for all vendors.
Charles says:
"Cut the crap - After evaluating vendors for over 8 years now I am getting really sick of all the BS marketing speak. It seems like it is getting impossible to tell what vendors really do and their messages are all the same. I am always a bit wary of vendors that sling BS that is devoid of substance and real meaning. Press vendors to give you the real story about what their products really do (and don’t do) and approach them with a healthy dose of skepticism. "
Amen
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008
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I have a cousin who works for Lehman...or did. He is a computer network professional so will probably be the last one out..or moved over...or what have you.
His description of the chaos in the wake of the failure demonstrates both the opportunity and the failure of HR during a moment of crisis. (Years ago an HR friend in another meltdown did step up to the plate and saved the pensions of the employees who had retired before they could be attached by creditors but that is another story).
My cousin has no means to get legitimate information so rumors expand. Extraordinary time is spent in speculation rather than the business at hand. Leaders are more concerned about jumping ship at the right moment than they are about getting projects accomplished. Decisions are delayed...and delayed...and delayed.
About the same time I saw an email from Shawn Slevin theat included seceral suggestions worth revising for HR.
3 Talent Management actions that HR could provide leadership around to bring some order are:
Establish a Credible Central Communication Source: Daily and hourly if necessary. From emails to Town Hall meetings, openly keep everyone abreast about the conditions affecting your business - solicit rumors and answer them publicly - the more transparent you can be the better it is. It's not about good versus bad news. Go beyond that. it's about speed of response and accuracy regardless of the judgement others will make- as long as the answers are truthful.
Maintain Business Focus: Until the doors close, we have business activities in place, goals to meet and projects to complete...for a reason- it makes us money and helps pay the bills. Plans should define not only our approach during the best of times but contingencies and the decisions that need to be made when trouble arises. Leaders should be in place to discuss and solicit ideas up and down the org structure to look at mitigating risk and downside as well as looking for opportunities to capitalize. If someone jumps at the leader level...fill the gap even temporarily immediately. It may be refreshing to see who steps up
Empower People: Offer guidance, limits and support (tell them you have their back and then be there). It is essential to remove the fear of taking action in a stressed environment. Individuals who are unwilling to take decisive action, will take no action. Employees empowered to do what they do best, execute on the plan will be more likely to ensure we all weather the storm
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008
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The Other Shoe Dropped: Now What?
A year ago (September 2007) we asked a lot of staffing leaders that we know personally if they had contingency plans for a slowdown in the economy. Very few said "yes"- and fewer cared.
It wasn't a good time.
In January of each new year we ask staffing leaders who respond to our source of hire survey whether they expect to hire more or fewer people in 2008 than in 2007. For the first time in our 6 years of conducting this survey, a majority said "fewer" and fewer translated to 25% down.
Since then the market has lost nearly "a trillion dollars" in pension funds it was ostensibly managing (whatever that means) and, (surprise, surprise) hiring is softer than its been in several years.
Consider this scenario: What happens to your staffing organization, budget, and people if your business leaders put a 6-month freeze on all hiring? Maybe now is a good time to think about that conversation, develop some innovative plans and prepare alternatives.
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Thursday, October 02, 2008
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The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) was signed into law on September 25th.This newest act corrects some of the inequities left unaddressed by the original ADA that was passed 16 years ago but, it won't impact staffing until corporations recognize the value of a truly underappreciated and underutilized labor pool
Suzanne Robitaille writing in the Wall Street Journal this summer reminded us of the challenges faced by the nation’s working-age disabled- only 38% of whom have a job.
She pointed to the great strides that have been made and
documented several laudable efforts by companies who make a difference. Two examples mentioned in her article:
-Rich Donovan, a former Merrill Lynch Trader who has cerebral palsy founded LimeConnect in 2006 with Merrill as a his first partner to help people with disabilities find jobs. With the addition of Pepsi, Google and Goldman Sachs, Donovan’s firm last year “sourced more than 300 disabled internship candidates from two dozen universities.”
The National Business & Disability Council with the initial help of Booz Allen Hamilton supports “Emerging Leaders”, a diversity internship program that has placed 75 students in summer internships in the last three years. AIG, KPMG, Liz Claiborne and P&G are among the 30 firms who support the program today.
Beyond the acknowledgement of a narrow band of best practices, there is still much work to be done.
- Your website is a reflection of your breadth of diversity. Our review of corporate websites is still somewhat disappointing with regard to welcoming people with disabilities. Few photos of employees on company staffing pages show individuals with visible disabilities. We count no more than 5 of the Fortune 500 who clearly depict their disabled among their profiles. This can be easily fixed.
- Access to content that allows disabled job seekers to assess a firms openings and employee value proposition is open to debate. Clearly marked accommodations for people trying to navigate staffing pages (visual, auditory or motor) are few and far between. ..and the disabled are becoming more agressive seeking solutions.
Two years ago a NY Bank was targeted for its lack of access via online applications. Changes were quickly made and the suit was dropped. Last month Target settled a “two-year-old class-action lawsuit alleging that visually impaired people were blocked from using their website by technical incompatibilities the company declined to fix.” This was a customer focus but how far behind are you?
It isn't just making the technical fixes, it is also the transparency that is critical. An example of a best practice is the GE Careers Accessibility Statement - a clear effort to move forward
- Before accommodation there is the interview process. Companyu Affinity Networks of people with disabilities can offer staffing leaders and their recruiters significant insight on the hiring on the hiring of people wioth disabilities. (The Suzanne Robitaillearticle singles out networks at KPMG, Eastman Kodak, IBM and Pepsi.)
- Finally, think about the training recruiters receive in recognizing and handling the needs of people with disabilities in the recruitment process.
Several years ago CareerXroads had the opportunity to study the challenges of graduating seniors from Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute For the Deaf (NTID) under a grant they received from IBM.
Our final report was included in a WSJ article and we received a great deal of response- including one email from a young man who had recently graduated from NTID and whose story is worth repeating.
He had graduated with a Computer Science degree near the top of his class and spent a frustrating 6 months applying to positions (after lots of initial response that quickly tailed off as recruiters learned that he required a TTY.
He persisted however and was thrilled to have recently received an offer. He had a question though. A week earlier he had been online at a company’s staffing pages reviewing an entry level programming job when he was offered an opportunity to enter a chat-room to talk with a recruiter- which he did. After getting a positive response from the recruiter he was given a code to an online test- which he passed with flying colors. Then he received the offer, conditional of course on a background check.
His question? “I start work next week”, he said. “When should I tell them I’m deaf?”
“Now, would be a good time” we responded.
We renewed our acquaintance with one of the NTID career services professionals at the National NACE conference earlier this summer. Despite improvements it is still telling how few firms seek top engineering and computer science graduates at RIT-NTID. It is about walking the talk…so to speak.
Our belief is that recruiters are a critical piece of the solution when it comes to hiring quality candidates who may also be disabled. Learning how to examine the candidates ability and not be distracted by their disability is a part of it.
Ensuring a recruiter is trained to easily accommodate a range of disabilities in the recruiting process is also and obvious competency – and yet no public seminar geared specifically to guide recruiters in this effort is readily available. A partnership between Cornell and the NJ SHRM Council is close (but what we think will resonate is still a step away).
Perhaps the most interesting statement a firm can make is if a recruiter or recruiting leader happens to have a visible disability. RBC and Wal-Mart are two firms we admire who walk the talk. We would enjoy meeting others.
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Saturday, September 06, 2008
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Destination ImagiNation is a kids' careers program that has been around for 25 years. It fosters development in teamwork, creative problem solving, and innovation. According to Ginger Geen, a colleague [who used to work in recruiting with Abbott Labs and now volunteers and consults with the not-for-profit],
"It's global, works almost entirely with a volunteer network of around 45,000, and is based on some very solid research, theory, and an educational foundation. The American Dairy Council, 3M, SciFi Channel, and AEM (The Association of Equipment Manufacturers) are big sponsors, and there are quite a few local ones.
The real story Ginger wanted to share began when "a representative from AEM (John Deere, Cummins, Komatsu, Caterpillar, Case, lots of others) came to the DI Global Finals competition awhile back and saw the relationship Destination ImagiNation has with kids. Facing a severe talent shortage in the Construction industry, AEM launched an initiative with DI called the Construction Challenge.
It's a hands-on competitive challenge for high school students that started with 36 teams at each of 5 regional rallies that wound up with the top 50 teams competing in Las Vegas at CONEXPO-CONAG--the largest trade show on the planet."
Ginger went on to share recent results,
"Last year's event was spectacular! Participating students saw the breadth and magnitude of the construction industry - its careers and practitioners at their best. Industry folks saw what these fantastic and innovative kids were capable of. Teachers, parents, and team coaches were flabbergasted all the way around, and many communities and their infrastructure officials got pulled into the excitement for real impact. I got to interview team managers at the event, and they've never seen their kids so motivated about anything to this degree. As a former staffing person---I LOVE THIS!" Ginger concluded.
Apparently last year's event was so successful that they're coming back for more... with an expanded approach. There will be 15 regional rallies this year. The competitions are now open to middle schoolers in addition to high schoolers. The event finals will be held at the same time as the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals at the University of Tennessee.
Ginger needs some help though- "We have Program Coordinators working on recruiting fabulous folks for the contract regional rally leader positions. We've got a few more to fill in Seattle, Phoenix, Kansas City, Charlotte (NC), Oklahoma City/Tulsa, Toronto, and Boston. We're scrambling to get these filled and get the rally planning off and running. The positions are paid (well, you gotta really want to do this...); responsibilities run from now through mid February, and we have a teeny staff to tackle the recruiting, but it's a wonderfully rewarding and fun experience."
Interested? Have recruiting advice? Call Ginger or, even if you're not interested, send her a word of encouragement
Ginger S.Green
Destination ImagiNation,Inc.
2009 Construction Challenge (Milwaukee)
ggreen@DIHQ.org
847-816-1954
224-433-0381 (cell)
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